Basil Chulev

•∘⊕∘•
The Continuity Paradigm within

the misteries of

Mitra

Zoroastrian-macedonic-Phrygian
Mithraism of the I-IV centuries - a Chauvinistic predecessor of
the X-century Bogomilism/Catharism and later Protestantism

2017
 The intention of this essay is to provide simple and easy-to-understand retrospective
of periods from ancient and medieval Macedonian and Middle East history, mythology,
and religion. It avoids substantial and detailed explanations that consider wider
historical background of the beliefs and deities described below, and is written primarily
for those approaching the topic for the first time.
It also avoids complex explanatory comments or insightful footnotes on the citations
from the sources. The explanatory notes are prevalently etymological.
The time-frame of this essay ranges from the second millennium BCE until the end of
the Roman empire in the 5th century AD. The interpretations given here are meant to
enhance our understanding and appreciation of the ancient Macedonian and Middle East
religious legacy. They are focused mainly on the mythological and ritual aspects of the
story disregarding the wider historical or socio-political perspective.

All the dates and references to centuries are „AD“ except where indicated otherwise.
Throughout this essay, Macedonia/Macedonians refer to the area of the mainland north
of Mount Olymp. Macedonian Peninsula refers to so-called 'Balkans.'

Latinized/Anglicized or Macedonic names are given in parenthesis, some names and

technical terms are transliterated and these will be obvious when they appear. Other
technical terms and titles have been transliterated directly from their original forms with
as few changes as possible: thus „Mysteries of Mitra‟ rather than „Mitraism‟ (the latter,
like all such „-isms‟, is but a modern label devised for comparison and taxonomy),
„Mitra‟ rather than „Mithras‟, which is neither “Greek” nor Latin.

The terminology and concepts that are post factum conventional historiography
inventions (like 'Balkans' or 'Greex') are largelly ignored, if not altogether avoided.
Such empirically wrong terms used by modern historiography were unknown to the
ancient and medieval world and their continued use perpetuates misleading
assumptions.

The modern-historiography 'privileged moments' are largely avoided too. For

historians today one such a privileged moment (of places and monuments as 'Byzantine')
is the 'Byzantine Empire', actually the Romeian Empire of the 5th and 6th centuries. But
when and why is so regarded? Was 'Byzantine Empire' regarded as 'Byzantine' alreаdy
in the Middle Ages? By whom?

The definitions, current meanings and related concepts of the words in English are
taken from the Oxford American Dictionary and Thesaurus (Mac OsX version 1.0.2 for
PowerPC) and/or Meriam-Webster online dictionary. For the words in Macedonian is
used the online ENCYCLOPÆDIA MACEDONICA / MAKEDONSKA
ENCIKLOPEDIJA vol. 1 & 2, idividi.com, and off.net online Macedonian dictionary.

The sources are listed in the References at the end of this essay.
Content

The Continuity Paradigm of the Macedonic Hittite/Phrygian cult of Mitra …………...... 7

From Macedonian Nike to Roman Mithras ………………………………………...……. 9
The Macedonic Hittite/Phrygian cult of Mitra in Roman times …………………...…… 19
The secret aspects of Mitra‟s cult rites and attributes …………………………………... 40
Mitraic ritual of initiation ……………………………………………………………….. 50
The fading of Mitra‟s cult and its legacy ……………………………………………….. 56
References ………………………………………………………………………………. 60
 The Continuity Paradigm of the Macedonic Hittite/Phrygian
Cult of Mitra
What today 19th-century-fashioned English-male clubs and other secret and occult (masculine) societies
have in common with the 2nd millennium BCE Hittite minor deity Mitra? Apparently nothing, but
surprisingly lot, as they observe the same unaltered customs of most conservative reservedness,
conspiracy, and oath, caused by the adoption of this initially non-Roman deity of the oaths and his minor
Macedonic/oriental cult by the Roman legionaries in the 1st-4th centuries AD. In the mysterious
corridors of today modern “clubs”, and within their conspirative, chauvinistic, and strictly male
headquarters of different “fraternities”, “orders of knighthoods” and other „specially enlightened‟
wannabe-different societies, they still preserve a special place for his worship, and a statuettes of Mitra
the bull-slayer and his occult symbols are still placed in the coves of these secret societies (as the
“Freemasons”, “Priory of Sion”, “Opus Dei”, “Illuminati”, “Lions Club”, “Tarsus Club”1, etc.).

Above: from left to right (occult symbols of): “Priory of Sion”, “Opus Dei”, “Illuminati”, and
“Freemasons” secret clubs/societies

The earliest known testimony of the original Hittite/Phrygian deity Mitra (also spelled Mithras) appears
for the first time in the historical records on a clay tablets found in the Hittite capital city of Hatuša. It
was mentioned around 1380 BCE in a peace treaty stipulated between the king of the Hittites and the
client Mitani kings, where Mitra, as god-protector of treaties, was invoked among other Aryan deities to
honor the contract between two rulers. Thenafter it was adopted by Persians as Ahura Mitra (Lord
Mitra), when Ahura Mazda (Lord Mazda) himself, according to Zoroastrian religious records,
legitimized the worship of Mitra as his son. In this version too Mitra remains a lesser god, one of the
“Yazati” (comparable to the Archangels in Christianity and Devas in Vedic tradition), which fight the
evil forces on the side of the “Seven Holy Immortals” in the great cosmic battle.
As the bearer of the first light (the morning light before the sunrise) in the Persian inscriptions he is
mentioned together with the goddess Anahita/Anaghita (lat. Venus, i.e. the Morning/Evening Star,
Macedonic Zee - the Goddess of the cold light). Mitra is the genius of the celestial light. He appears
before sunrise on the rocky summits of the mountains; during the day he traverses the wide firmament in
his chariot drawn by four white horses, and when night falls he still illumines with flickering glow the
surface of the earth, "ever waking, ever watchful" (Verethraghna in Avestan). Thus, the common
associate of Mitra in the mysteries was the sun, due to widely present historic and prehistoric solar cults.

1
In the recent 2012 “Conspiracy” fiction movie it was convincingly suggested that the elite
Tarsus Club worships Mithra, and as such is said to sacrifice a bull at each of its meetings.
Mitra cult spread from Anatolia until the India in the east, and as far as Spain, Great Britain in the west.
Nevertheless, his worship continued without interruption in the original Hittite homeland, then after
renamed into Phrygia2 (corrupted form of Brygia, the name of Ohrid-Pelagonia region in Upper
Macedonia3 from where the Brygians/Phrygians and Hittites originated).4

Right: Phrygian freeze, Vienna museum

2
An ancient region in central Asia Minor, to the south of coastal Bithynia. It reached the peak of
its power in the 8th century BCE under King Midas.
3
Today Republic of Macedonia.
4
Apparently, Hittites moved to Asia Minor at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BCE, while
their later Macedonic relatives Brygians/Phrygians moved there in the 9th century BCE.
 From Macedonian Nike to Roman Mitra

A piece of widely recognizable garment worn by Mitra underlines his undeniable homeland and
Macedonic origin – the Phrygian Cap.5 As testified by Erodot, the Phrygians were known as „Brygians‟
before they moved from their Macedonian homeland to Asia Minor. By extension, the Brygian/Phrygian
cap was explicitly applied to the "barbarians". Most notable of these extended senses of "Phrygian"
were the Trojans and other western Anatolian peoples, who in ancient authors perception were
synonymous with the Brygians/Phrygians, and whose heroes Paris, Aeneas6, and Ganymede were all
regularly depicted with a Brygian/Phrygian cap. Ancient clay pottery also depicts Amazons, the so-
called “Scythian” archers, and generally all freemen with Brygian/Phrygian caps. Although these are
military depictions, the headwear is distinguished and the figures are also identified altogether as
"barbarians". The headwear also appears in 2nd century BCE Boeotian Tanagra figurines of an
effeminate Eros, in various 1st century BCE statuary of the Macedonic kingdom of Commagene in
eastern Anatolia, as well as in Etruscan statuary in central Italy and Sardinia. Representations
of “Thracians” also regularly appear with Brygian/Phrygian caps, most notably Vendis (Macedonian
Vesna, Roman Vesta), the Thracian goddess of the moon and the hunt, and Orpheus, a legendary
Macedonian poet and musician.

Mitra was Hittite-Pelasgo-Macedonic deity par excellence. His oriental attributes, like those in the
Mithraeum of Kumanovo (Republic of Macedonia) where he is represented as Mitra-Verethraghna (the

5
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrygian_cap
6
A Trojan leader, son of Anchises and Aphrodite, and legendary ancestor of the Romans. When
Troy fell he escaped and after wandering for many years eventually reached Italy. The story of
his voyage is recounted in Virgil's „Aeneid‟.
Victorious)7 confirm these relations. On another relief carved on a large rock near the village of
Thermes (near Xanthi, Aegean Macedonia), which design represents a cave, Mitra is depicted sacrificing
the bull, and to his left and right are the god's retinue, Cautes and Cautopates.
However, the first great event that contributed to the greater international expansion and popularity of
Mitra‟s worship was the well-known 4th century BCE Macedonian conquest in the east, accomplished
by Alexander III of Macedon. In the cults of Apollo and Mitra, both identified with sun and/or moon,
Macedonians and Persians found themselves on a common ground. It is impossible now to say to what
extent each cult absorbed attributes from the other, but the interrelation of the two became an important
element in the cultural unity of the vast region conquered by Alexander and the Macedonians. As minor
deity and protector of the warriors Mitra was unquestionably accepted by the Macedonian soldiers, and
as minor deity was worshiped among Alexander‟s famed Falankas and Royal Companions. When after 8
years of campaign in Asia the Macedonians returned back home, they were the first who spread the
Mitra‟s cult in the Macedonian Peninsula and further west across Europe. Macedonia‟s cosmopolitan
nature, and willing absorption of these universal ideas and influences under one aegis, were responsible
for giving to much of her early Eastern Romeian art its distinctive oriental characteristics.

An exceptional showcase of the undisputed Mitraic worship among the Macedonian soldiers was once
again the Mitra's most recognizible symbol, that mark of undisputed power of acting without the
constraint of necessity or fate, and benchmark of the unchalenged reliance par excellence - the typical
“Phrygian” (i.e. Macedonian) helmet of the falankas of Filip II and Alexander III of Macedon. It is a
bare naked evidence which is infront of the eyes of everyone. While the Phrygian cap was of wool or
soft leather, in pre-Hellenistic times the Macedonians had already developed a military helmet that had a
similarly characteristic flipped-over tip. This so-called "Phrygian" type of Macedonic helmet was
usually of bronze and in prominent use in the Kingdom of Macedon as of the 5th century BCE. Worn by
the large majority of the Macedonian soldiers, it was a standard military equipment of the Macedonian
Armies in 4th and 3rd centures BCE. Confusingly similar are the depictions of the helmets used by
cavalry and light infantry (cf. Peltasts of Agriania and Paionia regions of Macedon), whose headgear
also included stiff leather helmets in imitation of the bronze ones.

7
One of the Avestan avatars of Mitra with many eyes and ears was “Verethranga” - „the
Victorious‟.
 Above: some of the Macedonian “Phrygian” bronze helmets from the 4th century BCE; its
shape was a universal symbol of undisputed freedom and firm reliance among the
Macedonians, and a distinguished mark of the oath between equals8

It's weird shape can hardly be explained as a technical improvement for the mere protection, as using of
so much additional material (Bronze) cannot be justified with its strange shape. But, this more than
obvious Mitra-fashioned military ordnance is still intentionally neglected as de facto Mithraic heavy-
duty version of the Phrygian cap. Its widely recognised symbolic importance is altogether ignored by the
modern scholarship and historiographers. And despite the blatant fact that it is known as “Phrygian”,
because of its obvious identical shape to the Brygian/Phrygian cap of Mitra - inexplicably is refused as
Mithraic garment. Why is that? It's because of the general anti-continuity political paradigm of the
western historiography. Continuity and plain historical interactions that are so explicitly obvious are
largely avoided for the sake of modern political and imperialistic-wannabe goals.
However, their interaction, a process that had begun long before Alexander, but to which he had given a
dynamic impetus, continued to develop despite of the break-up of his Macedonic empire. The
worshiping of warrior-protector deities was indeed a long tradition among the glorious Macedonians.
Such is the well known worship of Nike9, Victory, Macedonic goddess par excellence. To this avail
there‟s the first-hand most exceptional testimony, in the form of magnificent nearly 3 meters tall statue

8
Even the great Alexander was only the “first among equals”, according to the ancient codex of
behavior of the Assembly of Macedonians Under Arms.
Νίκε (Nike) - victory, upper hand; in today Modern Macedonian: “Ničkum” -„on your back‟,
9

considered also the victory-over-the opponent in the sport of wrestling, by trying to throw or
hold them down (i.e. “ničkum” in plain Macedonian) on the ground, typically according to a
code of wrestling rules.
of the Macedonic goddess of victory Nike (or Nika)10, commissioned by the triumphant Macedonians in
323 BCE, to celebrate their victory in the naval battle against the city-state of Athens at Hellespont.11

Above: The statue of Nike from the island of Samothrace, 323

BCE. Today at Louvre Museum

Beside the praised Macedonian dedication represented by the marvelous statue of Nike, there are at least
four other important Macedonic tributes to the great Kabeiri gods on the isle of Samothrace. One is in
the form of sanctuary built by Filip III of Macedon and his nephew and son of Alexander the Great,
Alexander IV; then the propylon (Lat. propylaeum) built by Ptolemy II, Macedonian king and pharaon
of Egypt; the rotonda dedicated to Arsinoe II, the second daughter and youngest child born to
Macedonian king Lysimachus from his first wife, Nika of Macedonia; and a Column monument to Filip
V. One of the artifacts found, a tiny gold Persian lion, was dedicated by a Macedonian soldier upon his
return from the campaign under command of Alexander the Great. From this can be seen the
overwhelming Macedonic attributes of the great Sanctuary on the isle of Samothrace.
Other monuments on the isle of Samothrace are unattested and designated merely as “hellenistic” (?) by
the conventional historians. The historical buffoonery of this irrational claim lies in the contradictory

10
Found in 1863 by M. Champoiseau. Broken into several pieces, it was lying in a rectangular
basin located on a windy ridge that overlooked the Samothracian Sanctuary of the Great
Gods. Today is in the Louvre Museum, Paris.
11
Actually this battle ended in a draw, but ultimately led to the final decline of the Athenian navy
and its fall from the historic stage.
fact of misappropriated use of the term for designating as “hellenistic”12 the periods which are not.13
The very same goddess Nike is also found on the balustrade of the temple of Atena Nike on the
Acropolis in Athens, where the goddess of victory is depicted in undisputed Mitraic fashion – while
slaying a bull. The amazing identical statue of Nike Tauroctona in a posture while slaying a bull was
also found in the ancient Macedonic city of Pergamum, in ancient Mysia (western Asia Minor region),
in Apolonia14 (western Macedonian Peninsula), etc.

Left: Nike sacrificing a bull

The same universal (Mitraic) attributes, like the Sacred Bull, used by or alleged to other deities also
became popular in Rome as of the 1st century AD, and are found on the frieze of the Ulphian Basilika at
Trajan‟s Forum, on the Arch of Benevento.

12
The modern adjective “Hellenistic” designates precisely “the time-period after the death of
Alexander the Great in 323 BCE until the battle of Azio (Actium) in 31 BCE and Roman empire
conquest of the Egypt.” - citation from the „Lezioni di Arte‟ (Lessons of Art) Vol.1, 'Dall'arte
arcaica al gotico' p.45: 'Il grande impero di Alessandro e i regni hellenistici'. Electa/Bruno
Mondadori, edition 2002). Any other use is inappropriate and misleading.
13
"Finally, two points of terminology. We use the word 'Hellenistic' for no better reason other
than out of the force of acquired habit, but of course the word and the concept are modern
inventions that were unknown (exonym) to the ancient world. The continued use of the word
perpetuates misleading assumptions, and there is a serious case for avoiding it altogether,
though the impracticality of this is obvious..." - M. M. Austin "Hellenistic Kings, War, and the
Economy", The Classical Quarterly New Series, Vol.36, No.2 (1986), p. 450. Published by:
Cambridge University Press.
"We are now able to say, with some certainty that the 'Greex' were, empirically, wrong: this
ancient model of continuity between the 'heroic age' and the present day is not a true historical
chronology, but a 'chronology of desire'. For historians today one such a privileged moment (of
places and monuments as 'clasical') is 'Clasical Athens', the Athens of the 5th and 4th centuries
BCE. But when and why is so regarded? Was 'Clasical Athens regarded as 'Clasical' already in
antiquity? By whom?..." - 'The Birth of Classical Europe: A History from Ilion to Augustine' by
Simon Price, Peter Thonemann.
14
3rd-2nd centuries BCE capital of the Macedonian Attalid dynasty (Attal, one of the
Alexander‟s generals). It was famed for its cultural institutions, especially its library, which was
second only to that at Alexandria.
The continuity of Mitra worship as pure Macedonic cult is also confirmed in the post-Alexander‟s era, in
the Macedonic successor kingdoms (Lat. Diadochi). The local Macedonian king Dropion (250-230
BCE), son of Leon of Paionia (Upper Macedonia), was noted by Pausanias when he gifted in Delphi a
trophy of the famous Paionian bison, which was still a hunting prey across the Macedonian Peninsula in
the 3rd century BCE: “A bronze head of the Paionian bull called the bison was sent to Delphi by the
Paionian king Dropion, son of Leon.”
Especially in the Macedonic Asia Minor kingdoms of Pontus and Commagene, Mitra was worshiped in
continuity until their fall in the 1st century of the new era. An astonishing and undeniable example of the
spread of Macedonian religious influence and interactions between the Macedonic and local gods is the
gigantic monument on the Mt. Nemrod, in the Macedonic kingdom of Comaggene in Asia Minor. Here
we found the solid rock testimony of Macedonian king Antiochus the Great, son of the king Mithridates
I Callinicus and queen Laodice VII Thea of Comaggene (from the Macedonian dynasty of Seleucids)15,
who erected an enormous sepulchral tumulus with giant statues of kings/gods with Mitraic-Phrygian
hats, and inscription on which is written as follows: “…all of the father-gods of Macedonia, Persia and
our own country of Comaggene will continue to bless their children and their grandchildren…”

Above: The statues around the gigantic tumulus built by Antiochus, Macedonian king of
Comaggene. On the Mt. Nemrod, part of the Taurus range, 2nd century BCE
Next page: the Macedonic successor kingdoms in Asia Minor and North Africa in 89 BCE,
ruled by Macedonian dynasties of: Mithridates (132-66 BCE), Seleucids (311-65 BCE), Attalids
(in Pergamon 188-133 BCE), and Ptolemies (304-30 BCE); in Red the Roman invasion

15
Founded by Seleuc Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals.
Commagene was originally a small Macedonic Syro-Hittite kingdom, and after Alexander III of
Macedon conquered the territory in the 4th century BCE it become a part of the larger Macedonic
Empire. After the breakup of the Alexander‟s empire the region became part of the Macedonic
Empire of Seleucids. The Macedonic kingdom of Commagene, bounded by Cilicia on the west
and Cappadocia on the north, arose in 162 BCE when its governor Ptolemy, a satrap of the
disintegrating Seleucid Empire, declared himself independent. Ptolemy's dynasty was related to
the Parthian kings, but his descendant Mithridates I Callinicus (109 BC–70 BCE) embraced
Macedonic culture and married the Syro-Macedonian princess Laodice VII Thea. His dynasty could
thus claim ties with both Alexander III of Macedon and the Persian kings. This marriage may also
have been part of a peace treaty between Commagene and the Seleucid Empire.16 From this point on,
the kingdom of Commagene became more Macedonic than Persian, and Commagene emerged in
about 163 BCE as a independent state and province in the Syro-Macedonian Seleucid Empire.

16
“The Pact Between the Kings, Polybius 15.20.6, and Polybius‟ View of the Outbreak of the
Second Macedonian War” by A. M. Eckstein: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/497859
 Above: Mitra as Ilios (lat. „Helios‟) in Phrygian cap with solar rays, together with
the 1st century BCE king Antiochus I Theos of Commagene. Relief found at Mt.
Nemrud, in present-day eastern Turkey

But, its real height in popularity was reached in the late 1st century AD, when it was adopted by the
invaders of the turn, the Romans. And, the emergence of its western worship coincides exactly with the
fall of the Macedonic kingdoms in Egypt and Asia Minor in the 1st century AD. One inescapable
conclusion emerges from the detailed facts which we have adduced. It is that the spread of the Mitraic
Mysteries must have taken place with extreme rapidity. With the suddenness of a lightning, they make
their appearance almost simultaneously in countries far removed from one another: in Rome, at
Carnuntum on Danube, and in the Agri Decumates. Manifestly, this reformed church of Mysteries of
Mitra exercised on the society of the 2nd century a powerful fascination, of which today we can only
imperfectly ascertain the causes. Other particularity is that the original Hittite Mitra wasn‟t a bull-
slayer. It was rather Macedonic victory goddess Nike Tauroctona, not Mitra. Why then the Roman
altars represent him as such?
The basic layer of this religion, its lower and primordial stratum, is the faith of ancient Hittite Empire,
from which it took its origin. The human mind does construct and entertain representations of
innumerable supernatural and paranormal beings entirely outside the religious domain. Folk tale and
fantasy literature abound with inventions of all sorts, whose connections with „religion‟ are
questionable or inexistent. And that is precisely the explanation of the Tauroctony in the Roman
exponential version of Mitra. Above the original Macedonian/Hittite prehistoric substratum was
deposited a thick sediment of later eastern and western mythology. Romans thoroughly collected and
added to their whole everything they managed to grab and plunder across the Mediterranean. In Rome
there was a Pyramid built, the replica of the Colossus from Rhodos (hence the “Colosseum”, which was
built nearby), Obelisks were brought from Egypt, thousands of Macedonic sculptures were stolen from
Macedonia, Asia Minor and Africa, etc.

Finally, a second wave of luxuriant Macedonic cosmopolitan ideas coagulated, and partly concealed
from view its true original nature, as the post-Alexander era local beliefs of Asia Minor kingdoms
added to it their alluvial deposits. Then after the cult spread quickly across the Roman empire, and
flourished especially during the 2nd and 3rd century AD. Аlike all the material things that Romans stole
from everyone and everywhere, they also devoured the religions and myths of others. The Romans
added more different perspectives and new thick layer of symbolism to it, juxtaposing it altogether with
the Zodiac, the Sacred Bull, Silen and Aion, etc. Since the function of its mysteries was to relate the
initiate to Mitra, the cult was of course centered entirely on the personality of the god. His cult title was
“Deus Sol Invictus Mithras”, thus, he was “God,” he was “the Sun,” he was “unconquered,” he was
“Mithras.”
But, even the invincible Mitra finally perished after the successful Christianization of the Roman
Empire. The Romans, same as their predecessors Macedonians, found in this deity of the oaths the
much needed guarantor figure, that they hoped could keep them together and safe. But apparently it
didn‟t, and as the Roman empire perished in the late 4th century AD, with it from history disappeared
also the Roman-adopted cult of Mithraism and sacred bull Apis. But, was it really disappeared? Not
quite so...
 The Macedonic Hittite/Phrygian Cult of Mitra in Roman time

Unlike the major mythological figures of the ancient world, such as Dionis and Irakles, almost no
ancient source preserves the precisely recorded story of the Roman-adopted chauvinistic cult of Mitra.
It has being profoundly sectarian and mysterious cult, practiced far from the curious eyes of the public
life, and it remained profoundly occult and exclusively male worship. Why? Because of the very same
reason for which it was practiced by the Romans and others before them - its conspirative complicity.
And, because of its deep conspiracy-fashion, the Roman Mitraic worship and its practices still remain
enshrouded in mystery. Western scholars, politically delimited to Bosporus, still lag behind in the
knowledge of the occult religions of the Orient and the precise features which derived from the
Bacchantes, the Maenads, Magianism and initiates, or Mitraism, or are imparted to it. Thus the
dictionary explanation of Mithras is limited to the following definition: “a god of light, truth, and
honor, the central figure of the cult of Mithraism, but probably of Persian origin”.

Macedonian philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BCE), felt himself forced to state explicitly „that the
Magians neither know nor practice sorcery‟ (The Magian, fr.36 Rose). An older contemporary of the
Macedonian philosopher, the Athenian author Xenophon (430-355 BCE), who visited the Achaemenid
Empire in 401 BCE, calls the Magians experts „in everything religious„ (Cyropaedia 8.3.11). He also
knows that the Magians sing hymns to the Rising Sun (the ancient Macedonic god Dze17) and all
known gods (8.1.23). Other ancient sources mention Magians at Alexander's court and we may asume
that they were performing the usual incantations, prayers and sacrifices. This proves that there was
collaboration between at least some Magians and the world most famous conqueror. They were simply
the representatives of the most ancient cults par excellence, and nobody was interested in the difference
between a Magian, a Brahman and a Chaldaean - they were all the same, especially in the
Cosmopolitan society which that of Macedonia was. That there was a reciprocal influence and
continuity we definitely know, but its precise scope we are unable to ascertain. Still, however
superficial it may have been, it certainly did prepare for the intimate reunion which was soon to be
effected in the Macedonian Peninsula and Asia Minor, between the Hittite/Phrygian Mysteries of Mitra
and those of proper Macedonia - the Mysteries of Great Mother Goddess and Dionis.
The evidence for this cult is mostly archaeological, consisting of the remains of Mitraic temples -
Mitraeums, its dedicatory inscriptions, and iconographic representations of the god Mitra and other

17
“Dze” - „peep, peek‟ in plain Macedonian http://www.makedonski.info/search/%D1%95%D0%B5;
today modern Macedonian word that denotes „starring/gazing‟ is Zee; in Dutch: Zien, in German:
Sehen, English: See, etc. https://glosbe.com/en/mk/stare
aspects of the cult in stone sculpture, sculpted stone reliefs, wall paintings, and mosaics. There is very
little literary evidence pertaining to the cult. All of our information is therefore derived from the
depictions on monuments, and the limited mentions of the cult in literary sources. In the east of Italy,
Pola, at the extremity of Istria, the islands of Arba and Brattia (today „Brač‟), and the sea-ports of the
coast of Dalmatia, Senia, Iader, Salona, Narona, Epidaurius, including Dyrrachium in Macedonia
(today „Albania‟)18, have all preserved more or less numerous and indubitable vestiges of the influence
of the invincible god, and distinctly mark the path which he followed in his journey to the commercial
metropolises of the Macedonian Peninsula and Adriatic coast. Iconographically, he is depicted in exotic
non-Roman, specifically Масеdonic-oriental garb: trousers and the Phrygian cap.
Mitra was the “bringer of the airy light” between heaven and earth, but he is also associated with the
sunlight, as with contracts and mediation. He endorsed the atributes of one of the most archaic
Macedonian deities, the primordial god of the Young (morning) Sun - Zee, of the original Hittite Mitra,
and Dionis. In the Avestan inscriptions, Mitra is the genius of the celestial light. He appears before
sunrise on the rocky summits of the mountains; during the day he traverses the wide firmament in his
Quadriga drawn by four white horses, and when night falls he is driven by the moon in her chariot.
For the Мacedonians and Romans the time of sowing was closely associated with the setting of the
celestial Bull, i.e., the date on which the Bull is first observed to fall below the western horizon before
the sun rises in the east. It is surely not too far-fetched to find an echo of this in the death of the bull in
the Mitraic tauroctony. Accordingly, such an important dates of astral-cults of the Sun (Sol) and Moon
(Luna) enjoyed imperial sponsorship for thousands of years, as evidenced by their images on Roman
coinage from the end of the 1st century BCE (Salzman1990, p. 150; Clauss 1997, p. 250; Hijmans
2003, p. 383). On the Dies Natalis Invicti, AD 25 December 274, Roman Emperor Aurelian decreed
Sol Invictus as the Sol Dominus Imperii Romani (the „Lord of Roman Empire‟), and ordered imperial
coins honoring Mitras-Sol Invictus to be minted and the Templum Solis Aureliani (the „Aurelian Sun
Temple‟) to be built in Rome.
As protector of warriors, he received for his companion, Verethraghna, or Victory; as the defender of
the truth, he was associated with the pious Sraoša, or Obedience to divine law; with Rašnu, Justice,
with Arštat, Rectitude. As the tutelar genius of prosperity, he is invoked with Aši-Vanuhi, Riches, and
with Parefidi, Abundance. His festival, same as the one of another Macedonic and cosmopolitan
predecessor, Dionis, was celebrated on the day of the winter solstice, when his birth from the stone had
brought the airy light in the world. His greatest deed was to slay the sacred celestial bull, the source of
all fertility. With this act, as a god-protector of the oaths, he guaranteed the fertility and the rebirth of
the young sun (at the beginning of the winter) by protecting the arrangements between the Earth and
Sky, the Rain and Soil, the rising of the Sun and Moon, etc. In this solemn sacrifice Mitra is always
depicted in the same way: on the back of the bull, his face turned towards the beholder. His
compassionate and at the same time suffering demeanor is explained by the fact that Mitra is the one
who offers and at the same time the offering. In this he was too similar to Dionis, for the latter‟s
followers of the Christ to react with indifference to his cult. Elsewhere he was also the Hittite Sandan,
Egyptian Osiris, Tammuz, Adonis, and Atis, and for the peoples of Egypt and Southwestern Asia under
these names he represented the yearly decay and revival of life, especially of vegetable life, which they
personified as a god (or bull) who annually died and resurrected again from the dead (or was burned
like the Hittite Sandan, that was followed by a ceremony of his resurrection or awakening; or he „spend
one part of the year under ground and another part above ground‟, depending of the cult version). Thus,

18
From the “Mysteries of Mitra” by Franz Valery Marie Cumont, 1903, p. 67. In his time this
was originally still Macedonia, the modern “Albania” was invented and created later, by the
imperialistic intervention of the 20th century western powers.
in name and detail the rites varied from place to place, in substance they were the same.19
The supposed death and resurrection of this universal deity, a god of many names but of essentially one
nature (today refurnished as Jesus Christ), was the same indistinguishable subject of the Mitraic cult.
We know about furious attacks by Christian worshipers and of brutally destroyed Mitraic sanctuaries,
which are to be found among early Christian temples. But, these very same elements of the Dionis,
Osiris, Tammuz, Atis, and Mitra cults now manifest themselves in Christianity. For example, setting
the date of Christ's birth at the time of the winter solstice. This constant tradition shows that the solstice
worship remained generally unaffected for at least three millennia, thus confirming the Continuity
Paradigm, regardless of the apparently „different‟ forms or names of this “Solstice cult”, i.e. the god of
the Rising Sun (the ancient Macedonic god Zee).

Above: Mitra‟s shrine (Lat. Mithraeum) under the basilica of St. Kliment (Clemente) in Rome

To summarize - at first the 25 of December was celebrated as Dionis‟ birthday, then the same date it
became the festival of Phrygian-Zoroastrian minor god Mitra, then it became the birthday of the
chauvinistic Roman-adopted Mitra and of Sol Invictus (i.e. the Latin name of the later Roman empire
for the sun-god Dzee/Ilios), and finally – it became and today is the birthday of Jesus Christ, the latest
oriental avatar of the very same Macedonic/Hittite/Phrygian solstice worship tradition. And there is
absolutely no other apparent reason to believe that the Jesus Christ was really born on 25th of
December. In order to celebrate the solstice rebirth of the morning celestial light, and of the sun and
19
Similar customs prevailed across the Macedonian Peninsula and many parts of Southwestern
Asia. Fertility rites and practices were clearly regarded as a solemn religious duty performed in
the service of the Great Mother Goddess of the Earth, and her consort, the Sky Creator God,
whose names varied from place to place, while their type remained constant.
reenacting of the cycle of life, the 25th of December remained the very same fulcrum point for
gathering of the people as from at least 3000 years ago, and motivated them to keep alive the tradition
through the Dionisian Mysteries, Mitra’s Mysteries, Sol Invictus Mysteries, and last - the today Jesus
Christ Mysteries (for example of „immaculate conception‟20, etc.).

The Dionisiac-Mitraic worship of antiquity, which symbolized the passage of the sun into Taurus by
the figure of a sacred bull slain by a man, wasn‟t the last survival of a faith that had once penetrated so
deeply into the minds of the people. This perpetuated rite persisted under different names/symbols for
thousands of years, transmitted in different sanctuaries and temples of the prehistoric, ancient, medieval
and modern world. We find him from the immemorial times, as described in the Orphic hymn:
“Haste, blest Dionis, of the thunderbolt
Engendered, Bassarus or Bacchus called,
Bull-visaged, king of many names and powers.”
Its traces today are still stubbornly present in the Macedonian traditions. Although the rite of slaying
the sacred bull/calf is abandoned in today modern religions and society, even in Macedonia, the
memory of it is still well preserved until today, as for example within the popular song “Kolede” sang
in modern Macedonia, but now as а “carol song” under Christmas.21 Amazingly for the 21st century,
this innocent-looking ritual song discovers the story of the calf that begs for mercy when it‟s about to
be slain. And weirdly enough, even if it narrates about the animal sacrifice to the gods - it was adopted
and camouflaged as a “carol song” by the very institution that is thought as one that eliminated all the
pagan traditions from religion - the church.
Etymologically looking, the Indo-Europian common Macedonic proverb “Mi-trae” means: /mi-/ –
„bind to me, of mine‟, and /-trae/” – „resistant, long-lasting‟22; hence Sanskrit „Mitram‟ - “covenant,
contract, oath", the protection of which is Mitra's par excellence role in both the 1380 BCE Hittite-
Mitanni peace treaty and the Rigveda. Most direct analogy of this archaism is to be found in the
modern Macedonian verb expression “mi-trae” - „lasts-to-me‟ in plain Macedonian, and precisely
defines a process, activity, or state of things that is safeguarded for a specified period of time.
Accordingly, in post-Vedic India, “Mitra” became the „guardian of friendships‟, and the
noun mitra came to be understood as “friend”, one of the aspects of bonding and alliance. In most IE
languages, the word „mitr‟ means friend; hence the Old Macedonic personal name „Mitre‟ and

20
The feast commemorating the „Immaculate Conception‟ on December 8; the doctrine that God
preserved the Virgin Mary from the taint of original sin from the moment she was conceived; it
was „invented‟ and adopted as a “dogma of the Roman Catholic Church” in 1854.
21
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6smq-0tZtio
22
Still with the same unaltered meaning as verb “Trae” - „keeps/lasts/resists‟ and as noun
“Trajno”- „enduring‟ in plain Macedonian.
corrupted Russian form „Mitya‟ and/or “D‟mitry”; also the Old Macedonic pronoun „Miya‟- we, and the
plural suffix “-mina”;23 „Mihr‟ in Pahlavi, „Mehr‟ in modern Persian, and „Mher‟ in Armenian; as well
as Latin noun “military”, from „Miles, milite‟- soldier, etc. Thus the Indo-Hittite god of the contract,
Mitra, is heavily masculinized form of the neuter term mitra‟m/mitrae(m) - „lasting/contract‟.
Furthermore, it was also because of the important status of the Macedonic sun god Dzee (Latin Sol
Invictus) that the Mysteries of Mitra became one of the most popular religions of the civil and military
officials of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century AD. Sol Invictus rose at the same time from a low-
ranking deity in the Roman pantheon to become the special protector of the empire.

Above: fragment of a sepulchral slab with the Alexander-styled Sol Invictus

By being exclusively male cult Mitra was directly and almost exclusively related to the Roman military
classes. Lets not forget - the woman in Roman society was only one grade above from being a common
slave, without almost no rights out of the household. For that reason in Rome no woman was ever
Caesar, senator, or anything more than simply a plain woman. So, Roman variety of Mitra veneration
was extremely chauvinistic by default, because it was a cult practiced only by the chosen, i.e. the male
part of the population, namely the soldiers that could wage the wars. Mitraic Mysteries became an
inseparable part of the military duty of all the men who were directly involved in defending Roman
Empire, and by force of the things had the well-being of Rome at heart. Thus, the chauvinistic male
participation in the Mysteries of Mitra became a collective medium of emphasizing one's (military)

23
For example: “petmina (5-mina)”- five (of them), “osummina (8-mina)”- eight (of them),
“devetmina (9-mina)”- nine (of them), etc. also Sanskrit „Melah‟- assembly; thus Macedonic
„komes‟- (the inhabitants of) village, congregation; and „comites‟- Latin for „komes‟. See
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/comes#Latin
loyalty to the Roman empire. Mitra‟s accentuated attributes as „the protector of treaties‟ only helped to
secure his preferential role among the Roman legionaries and other men.
In similar fashion the veneration of Jesus Christ became a patriotic duty for the loyal Romans in the 4th
century. But, with one incomparable and crucial difference - it included also the female part of the
population as well. In that way, by officially and forcibly becoming the state religion, Christianity
accidentally became also the first feeble step toward the reestablishing of the basic human rights,
female emancipation, and gender equality in the extremely inhuman Roman slavery society.
The Mysteries of Mitra most important aspect and legacy is its rejection of the theism and the doctrine
polemics (alike in the Christianity) in the name of higher principles, and not by an a priori animosity
toward religion and to the concepts of supernatural authority and revelation. To the faith Mitra opposes
experience; to devotion, heroic and ascetical action; to the God of theism - the ideal of liberation and
enlightenment…
Mitraic mysteries came from the very heart of the traditional Macedonic civilization values - a
cosmopolitan world characterized by self-affirmation, light, greatness, regal spirituality and spiritual
regality. A values once achieved, by that world most famous Macedonian, Alexander the Great. In (this)
his path there was no room for escapism; or asceticism; or renunciation and contemplative abstraction.
Alexander‟s and Mitra‟s path is one of action, of solar power and fervent spirituality, which is opposed
to both dull and dreamy Oriental Universalism, and Christian sentimentalism and moralism. Mitra was
the symbol of those who proceed along this path. And, it is said that only a “man” could proceed along
this path; any woman would‟ve be consumed by that immense “Taurean strength”.

The evidence, and some of the inferences drawn from Mitraic mysteries, are as follows:
Plutarch (late 1st century AD), in Life of Pompey 24, states that the Cilician pirates who were
vanquished by Pompey in the mid 60‟s BCE “celebrated certain secret rites of initiation, of which those
of Mitra have survived up to now” (or “as far as here,” i.e. Rome). These „initiations‟ were a prototype
of the Roman mysteries of Mitra.
Moreover, a Mithras who was identified with the Sun god Ilios (Lat. Helios) was one of the deities of
the syncretic Macedonic-Persian royal cult founded by Antiochus I, Macedonian king of the small but
prosperous buffer kingdom of Commagene in the mid 1st century BCE.
Thus, as progressive dualistic god of light and night, truth and honor, Mitra (or Latinized Mithra,
Mithras) was the central figure of the cult of Mysteries of Mitra, that was originally from the Middle
East. Born probably in the Hittite Empire in the second millennium BCE, it continues as a minor
provincial deity in Asia Minor region of Phrygia. He was further associated with merchants and as
protector of the warriors, especially after the Macedonian conquest of Alexander the Great in the 4th
century BCE, and finally by Roman legions as of the 1st to 4th century AD. Indeed, the largest quantity
of evidence for Mithraic worship initially comes from the eastern provincies of the Roman empire,
particularly from the provinces south of the Danube River frontier. In AD 62, some vexillationes of the
Leggio V Macedonica fought under Lucius Caesennius Paetus against the Parthian Empire in Armenia.
After the defeat of the Battle of Rhandeia, the whole V Macedonica legion, together
with III Gallica, VI Ferrata, and X Fretensis under the command of Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo, were
sent to the east to fight in the victorious war against the Parthians. The V Macedonica was probably still
in the east when the Great Jewish revolt in the province of Judea began in AD 66. It is attested that the
soldiers from the Roman legion XV Apollinaris stationed at Carnuntum (Раnonia Superior) in the 1st
century AD were called as reinforcements to the east in AD 63, in order to fight the Parthian invasion
and further to help the suppression of the Jewish revolt in AD 66-70. It was noted that the members of
this legion made Mitraic dedications back in Carnuntum after their return from these campaigns,
possibly as early as 71 or 72 AD. It was especially powerful in the two principal places of this double
province, in Aquincum and in Carnuntum; and in both of these cities the causes of its greatness are
easily discovered. The first-named city, where in the 3rd century the Mysteries of Mitra were
celebrated in at least five temples scattered over its entire area, were the headquarters of the Leggio II
Adjutrix, which had been formed in the year AD 70 by Vespasian from sailors of the fleet stationed at
Ravenna. Among the freedmen thus admitted into the regular army, the proportion of Orientals was
considerable, and it is probable that from the very beginning Mitraic Mysteries counted a number of
oriental adepts in this irregular legion. That‟s why the Roman Mitra was also a savior, and a liberator as
well: that is one reason he wears the red felt headdress of a Phrygian shepherd. It became the Roman
sign of a slave who has been manumitted, set free.24
It was at this period that Mitra emerged from the partial obscurity as lesser god, in which he had
hitherto lived, to gradually become one of the favorite gods of the Roman aristocracy and the imperial
court. We have seen him arrive from the Orient, a despised deity of the deported or emigrant Asiatics,
and glorious but defeated Macedonians. The most ancient inscriptions are eloquent evidence of the
truth of this assertion, for they emanated without exception from slaves or freedmen, from soldiers
active or retired.
And, as it became worshiped and very popular among the Roman legionaries, Mitra cult from the
Macedonian Peninsula spread further with them, across the whole Roman empire. But, as a
consequence of its exclusive male worshipers it remained explicitly a male-practiced cult. And after all
it wasn‟t the first of the Great Mysteries adopted by the Romans. The worship of the Macedonian and
Phrygian Mother of the Gods was cult adopted by the Romans in 204 BCE.

24
The very same benchmark of undisputed freedom and pride worn previously by Macedonians
in the form of military helmet, survived as a symbol of freedom until the French Revolution.
Above: altars of the Great Mother Goddess of the Home from the villages of Porodin near Bitola
and Govrlevo near Skopje. 7th-6th millennium BCE, Republic of Macedonia. Her worship as the
„Magna Mater of Pessinus‟ was first rendered at Rome as late as 204 BCE

The shrines of Mitra, Mitraeums, were always in a underground caves, thought by some scholars to
symbolize a model of a cosmos, featuring a relief of Mitra killing the bull. Indirectly discovering the
hidden attributes of this chauvinistic cult, the underground “tauroctony” appears in the same format
everywhere, with minor variations. The sacrifice of the sacred bull/calf deep in the underground cave,
underlines the dualistic nature of the Mitraic cult. The sacred bull was in its nature only one
manifestation (phallus) of a multitude-form solar deity, a symbol of the sky and heavens, the supreme
creator that brought the light and life, which through its sacrifice „ejaculates‟ its seed (blood) of life;
while the underground cave (uterus), where Mitra is born from a stone, symbolized the interior of the
mother earth, a womb which is about to be fertilized by the very sacrifice of the celestial bull deep
inside her.25 In the ancient traditions the death was also the symbol of the rebirth, as the sexual
culmination is often compared with the “small death.” This symbolic sexual “penetration” of the
celestial fertile bull/phallus deep into the underground womb of the mother earth can be deduced
without any doubt from the Phallus-like shape of the Mitraeums, on the end of which the altar
represented the „glans‟ of these penis-shaped structures, where the “celestial sperm” was ejaculated in
the form of the bull‟s blood. It is not hard to imagine the collective masturbation of the present mail
adepts of the cult, and the moment of ecstatic climax at the end of this underground celestial
fecundation ritual.

25
It is worth noting that most of the found Mithraeums have room for only 30 to 40 members,
and only a few are so large that a full-grown bull could actually be sacrificed inside. It was
probably a more practical and smaller calf being slayed instead in Mitra‟s shrines of worship.
Precisely the same calf ("Tele" in plain Macedonian) that is still sang in Macedonian Kolede
(“Slay-day”) song, but today transformed into Xmas carol song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6smq-0tZtio
 Above: more than obvious Phallus-like shape of the underground cave Mitraeums

Moreover, in the famous Ostia‟ Mitraeum in Italy (the one on the far left above), where the symbolic
“ejaculation” of the sacrificial seed (i.e. bull‟s blood was performed (and most probably the real sperm
ejaculation of the adepts and Paters, which was mixed with the “celestial seed” of the slain bull). In
support of this assumption there‟s a properly-related inscription in Latin: “FELICISSIMUS26
EXVOTO” - „maximum-felicity emptying‟, with a depicted mosaic urn-vessel where the actual vessel
served for the ejection of the spilled blood/semen.

26
Latin superlative form; from the superlative adverb “Maximus”.
This was the Mitraic most potent hidden symbolism, and the actual “aphrodisiac” buildup for the male
libido of every army, Roman comprised. As Mithraism typically expressed itself in and through the
medium of the visual arts, a series of visual symbols had much greater effect than a sequence of words.
At any rate Tauroctony wasn‟t a Roman nor a new custom at all, as the bovine sacrifice has its roots in
the prehistoric times, when killing a wild bull or a bison 27 meant the difference between the life and
death, and the abundance of food by killing one was celebrated with animistic rituals and primitive
forms of worship.
The oldest recorded evidence of this universal bull sacrificial rites in history pertains to be the
Mesopotamian imagery, depicting the myth of Gilgamesh killing the celestial bull sent by Ishtar; and
consequently other images of a bull being stabbed in the neck. Further followed the oxen sacrifice to the
Persian god Baal; Egyptian sacred bull Apis/Serapis; then the mythological Irakle (Latinized Hercules)
that kills the Minoan White Bull on Crete; the Cretan „Tauromachia‟ and „Taurokatapsia‟; the sacrifice
of cow in the Abrahams Covenant; the myth of Teseus and the Minotaur; and already mentioned above
testimony of the Macedonian king Dropion (250-230 BCE), who was noted by Pausanias when he gifted
in Delphi a trophy of the famous Paionian bison, which were still a hunting prey in the Macedonian
Peninsula in the 3rd century BCE - all of which performed a sacrifice rite involving a bovine animal.
And back then this ritual also represented the “cleansing from death” - a necessary and desirable belief
for the military profession of that time.

27
Genus Bison, family Bovidae; Bovidae Bonasus of European forests (also called „Wisent‟).
Above: Mithraic-alike image of bull sacrifice from the 2nd millennium BCE Knosos, and the
sacrifice on the altar of Baal
Below: Irakle (Lat. Hercules) fighting the white Cretan bull
Thus, the heroic triumph of the chthonic god Mitra over the epic force of nature and its elements,
represented by the bull, was absolute. This was one of the last mythological versions of the prehistoric
caveman struggle for survival, that used to hide himself deep in the caves in front of the dreadful
cosmogonic forces of nature. But, at the end, the man had the upper hand and its final victory, and
countless millenniums of incessant human struggle with this elemental or celestial bull, and other real
and mythological creatures was over. By utterly defeating it, over countless millennia man managed to
transform this once untameable and powerful wild beast into irreparably dull and humiliated livestock,
reduced to a sacrificial item and helpless product for domestic food supply. And, as elsewhere, in the
1st century AD the European wild bulls and bison in the nature were practically extinct, thus Romans
and others improvised the rite of Tauroctony with the domestic cattle.

Above: the cavern, into which Mithras has carried the bull, after having hunted it, ridden it,
and overwhelmed its strength

The rest of the overall imagery of Misteries of Mitra is pretty much known. Outside of the Mitraic
cavern in which he was born, is the Macedonic sun god Dzee (Lat. Sol Invictus - the invincible sun),
with his flaming crown, often driving a quadriga. A ray of light reaches down from the sun to touch
Mitra. On the top right is the Macedonic Moon-goddess Zee (Lat. Luna), with her crescent moon, who
is depicted driving a chariot.28 Among other standard themes that appear in the Mitraic iconography are
the Zodiac signs, the Mitra‟s Phrygian dress and hat, then the Phrygian demigod Silenus (Lat. Silvanus;
i.e. the Macedonic Silen, a woodland deity later also identified with the Latin Pan, and much later
medieval cattle-god Veles), who appears as a mysterious bearded figure with the leaves of a tree above;
on one Mithraic relief is depiction of him fighting with Eros.
Near Mitra usually appear two smaller figures, Cautes and Cautopates, dressed like himself in Phrygian
clothes and bearing torches - one with an elevated torch, the other with a lowered torch. For these two
some clue and an explanatory correspondence can be found in the well known “as above so below”
principle, or far east Yin and Yang; and within the Orthodox church ritual of lighting-up the candles on
the entrance for the closest family or friends: for the living ones above on the elevated burning
platform, and for the deceased below, on the ground level burning platform.
And there‟s also a mysterious lion-headed and four-winged figure, entwined by serpents, found in some
reliefs and called the Aion (also Æon, Autozoon or Zervan Akarana), thought to represents the
boundless time. The Aion therefore typified the power of all things and of all gods. The Aion was Lord
of the whole Celestial Sphere, and of the Four Great Elements. The serpent symbolized earth; the head
of it entering the mouth is paralleled by a number of monuments on which the serpent drinks from a
crater or water vessel; the wings symbolize air; and the lion-head with its shaggy mane typifies fire and
light.

Above: the four-winged “Roman” Aion from the Mitraic shrine relief (on the left) appears to be
our old friend Ellel (on the right) from the 2nd millennium BCE Hittite pantheon, which also
appears in many different versions within other pre-Roman mythologies, like the Macedonic
Illion (it appears even as a 4-winged female deity)

28
The syllabic names of primordial Macedonic gods are clearly onomatopoetic, thus “Dze”(the
sun) means „all seeing‟ and/or „to peek‟, and “Zee”(the moon) means „starring‟ in plain
Macedonian.
Unfortunately, no ancient authority tells us precisely why, for example, the Mitraic Tauroctony
regularly includes a dog, a snake, a scorpion, a raven, and other more or less present animals. Through
the wealth of explicit astronomical symbolism on the monuments reference is made to the visible
heavens by deploying astronomical symbols in a less obvious, less conventional form as elements in
what appears superficially to be an episode in a story. Mitra slays a bull, and around these two are
grouped a dog, a snake, a scorpion, a raven, a pair of twins, and not infrequently a cup and a lion; the
bull‟s tail is metamorphosed into an ear (or ears) of wheat. In the heavens of 1st century AD we find,
within a band extending along and below the Zodiac from Taurus to Scorpius, constellations imagined
in ancient astrology as a Bull (Taurus), Two Dogs (Canis Major and Minor), a Snake
(Hydra/Drako/Serpens), a Scorpion (Scorpius), a Raven (Corvus), a Pair of Twins (Gemini), a Cup
(Crater), a Lion (Leo), and finally a star called the „Wheat Ear‟ (Spica i.e. Alpha Virginis).29 The
Zodiacal system had a special meaning because the Taurus constellation in the night sky is on the
opposite side from the Scorpion constellation, confirming again the Dualistic nature of Mitra. Other
signs meaning is not so clear, but they were connected with the time-calculating, sun-moon and
celestial bodies cycles and influence.
However, the Mitra and the sacred bull remain the central subjects around which everything else is
more or less present. The animal-totem of Bull is just another visible symbol of this multitude-form
solar deity. The sacred bull is a symbol of cosmogony, of the high god, the paradise mountain,
primordial reality and unity. He is also known as the symbol of Uran(us)30, the heavenly supreme god-
creator of the whole Indo-Mediterranean areal. The same bull-god that was celebrated in the prehistoric
sanctuary of Čatal Hüyük (Asia Minor around 12,000 BCE), it was also the Minotaur slain by Teseus in
Crete, and the sacred bull Apis/Serapis in Egypt, and again the bull that was slain by Mitra - it has the
characteristic multitude nature: 3 heads or even 3 bodies united to one, and myriad of Orphic animals
around him. Derivations and similar copies of this primordial patchwork-animistic totemism are to be
found in other Mediterranean mythical beings as well, as the widespread Totoiti and famous Chimera.
They all contain the very same vast myriad of beings or parts of beings attached to them.

29
“The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire. Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun”
by Roger Beck, 2006
30
Ur - bull, a prehistoric PIE name of this animal, from the Macedonic onomatopoeic
exclamation “Ouruk”- used when pushing, a great effort cry, and/or verb “Urna/uriva”-
„demolishes, brings down in violent manner‟ (see also Italian “Urto”- „a crash‟); from there
comes the name of the extinct wild Eurasian ox known as Aurochs* (Lat. Bos Taurus
Primigenitus), which was the wild ancestor of domestic cattle and was called
Ur/Urus/Uroks/Auroks, is also the root for later Latin Uranus (sky-god), Ta-Ur-us, etc. See
also Sanskrit „Ukṣán‟ - bull.
* pronounced „Uroks‟ i.e. „Ur-ox‟; still used as a noun “Urok” meaning „a curse, bad luck‟
and/or „harsh lesson‟ in plain Macedonian, a distant remnant of the innate primordial fear of
Neolithic people, denoting the ones bad luck if attacked by this dangerous wild beast in the
prehistoric woods and steppes of Eurasia.
Above: Totoiti, a lion or bull-bodied mythical being of nightmares, adorned with
snakes and scorpions, with several heads, snake tail, etc.
Below: the famous bronze Chimera from Arezzo, Italy. 5th-4th century BCE
Above: the Mitra‟s 1st-4th century sacrificial bull with similar animistic
menagerie around him (snake, scorpion, lion, dog, raven, etc.)
Dionis was also the solar god of life in the form of the divine bull or calf „Bougenæs‟. Nimrod, the
mighty hunter, is seen attacking this same bull with a club in the sign of the constellation of Taurus. Bel
Merodach as god of Babylon was also the divine bull with triple nature.

Above: Bel Merodach, the divine bull-god of Babylon

The god “became a lion in the lion's skin of Leo the lion, as he became a ram in Aries, or a bull in
Taurus.” This primordial animistic multiverse spreads across all the ancient world, and reappears
through much later Macedonic (or so-called „Slavic‟) anthropomorphic mythology, in the myths of
Veles, Triglav, Svyatovid, etc. These were the new medieval versions of Dionis, Mitra, Serapis, etc.
ancient pagan gods, that reached and survived through Middle Ages, and were transmitted until our
days via oral folk tradition. Despite the merciless oppression by the church institution, that with
extreme cruelty persecuted all pagan beliefs - tacitly, behind her back, they survived until nowadays.
 Above: Bronze Age Carthaginian symbols of Baal (the sun and the crescent) and his consort
the goddess Tanit - below them is the sacred celestial bull. Sardinia, 1700 BCE

Nonetheless, despite the passing of the countless millenniums, the remembering of the prehistoric cult
of bull-god is still preserved and celebrated in Macedonia within many pagan traditions, as for example
on 24th of February, as “Mukovden”, the day of the bulls. Also, the Macedonic noun “Urok” - „a
curse, bad luck‟ and/or „a harsh lesson‟ in plain Macedonian, is a surprisingly distant but undeniable
prehistoric record of the one of innate primordial fears of the Neolithic Macedonians. Although the
modern people of Macedonia have totally forgotten the original etymological meaning of it, the
Neolitic root of the word „urok‟ still denotes the reason for its comparative “misfortune” sense - the
Aurochs, and the someone‟s dreadful destiny that had a bad luck, or unfortunate „lesson‟, to meet one.
Namely, Auroks or Urox/Urus was this extremely dangerous wild oxen (now extinct) from the Eurasian
prehistoric woods and steppes.31 This ferocious and savage creature was twice bigger than today
domestic bovine, and unimaginably more dangerous. Ancient sources report that it was still hunted in
Paionia (Upper Macedonia, today R. of Macedonia), with specific hunting dragnet traps, in the 5th-4th
century BCE.
But, unfortunately human progress and growth of population across Macedonian Peninsula, and
generally on the whole European continent, contributed to the complete extinction of this legendary
specie.

31
Aurochs [ouräks; ôˌräks] noun (pl. same) i.e. Ur-ox, from PIE „Ur‟ and Sanskrit „Ukṣán‟- bull,
a large wild Eurasian ox that was the ancestor of domestic cattle. It was exterminated in the
Middle Age, and reportedly the last one was killed in Poland in 1627. Also called Urus; Latin:
Bos Taurus (formerly primigenius), family Bovidae.
Above: Sumerian relief depicting a wild Aurochs bull in the act of charging

Below: Minoan bull-head artifact, 2nd millennium BCE

Another distant remnant of this dreadful and succumbing prehistoric epoch of human history is
preserved in Spain, through the embarrassing and grotesque imitation of the most primitive ceremonial
bull-fighting, once practiced across the whole Mediterranean region. Namely - the famous “Corrida”,
which is still practiced even today, in the 21st century. These modern-retarded “Mitras” still slay the
bull, although the much smaller domestic one, and not for the gods, but in a shameful and unfair circus-
ceremonial infront of the cheering public and tourists…
 The secret aspects of Mitra’s Cult rites and attributes
It is to be remarked that Simon, whom the late antiquity church fathers regarded as the earliest Gnostic
heretic in the Christendom, was surnamed the Magian, and that The Great Announcement, which was
the principal document of the Simonian Tradition, is filled with Magianism doctrine. Moreover the
names of the Aeons in a number of Christianized Gnostic systems, are those of ethical abstractions,
precisely as are the names of the Amshaspands in the Zoroastrian Avesta. And not only are there
distinct traces of this Mitraic influence in some of the Christian Gnostic documents preserved to us, as
for instance in the system underlying the Coptic Gnostic works contained in the Askew and Bruce
Codices; but also we have many indications of a large literature derived from the doctrines of
Zoroaster, and his Mazdayasnian successors, and directly attributed to him by the ancient writers. This
literature was in circulation among certain Christian Gnostic fractions, and is also directly referred to
by Porphyry32, in his “Life of Plotinus”, when giving a list of the Gnostics against whom his master
wrote one of the books of his famous Enneads.
Further, the beautiful Syriac “Hymn of the Soul,” which is almost certainly the work of the Christian
Gnostic Bardasian (Bardesanes), is thought by some to be based almost entirely on Magianism
doctrines. It may, therefore, contain valuable material for unveiling part of the inner secrets of
Magianism, and, therefore, help us better to understand the innermost doctrines of the Mithraism.
Again, the conquest of the east by Alexander III of Macedon renewed the old relations between
Macedonia and all the lands into which Magianism had directly spread itself, and this contact would aid
in the reinvigorated diffusion of the mystic knowledge of general Mazdaean/Mithraic tenets among the
learned. As Cumont writes: “it is certainly during the period of the moral and religious fermentation
promoted by the Macedonian conquest, that Mithraism received its more or less definitive form”.

32
Porphyry (232–303), Neoplatonist philosopher; born Malchus. He was a student of Plotinus,
whose works he edited after the latter's death.
Moreover, when Alexandria became the intellectual centre of the Macedonian world, this interest in
Magianism increased. All this shows that before the direct immigration of the Mithraic Mysteries (as
known to us from the monuments) into the Roman empire, Magianism doctrines had already strongly
influenced Macedonic religious thought during the Macedonian conquest in the 4th century BCE, and
functioned as international medium for spreading the Mitraic Mysteries.
In the Magianism tradition Mitra is all-important deity; in Avestan theology, the latest development of
the great Zoroastrian reformation, Mithra holds but a subordinate place among the Yazatas, or „celestial
deities‟, created by Ahura-Mazda. It is, however, quite evident both from the oldest Vaidic hymns and
the oldest traditions preserved in the Avestan documents, that in the beginning the God whom the
hymns call Mitra was one of the highest deities of a pantheon which was in prehistoric ages the
common property of the forefathers of both the Macedonic and Persian Aryan races. Mitra‟s attributes
are such as to place him on almost an equality with the Supreme God. In earliest days Mitra was God of
Light, and was invoked together with Heaven (Zd. Ahura, Sk. Varuna). In the Avesta, Mitra is the Lord
of the Heavenly Light, and therefore of all the heavenly lights. He is the Light, but not the Sun, the Sun
is his chariot, or rather his charioteer. He is ever awake, ever on watch. He is neither sun nor moon nor
stars; but with his thousand ears and his ten thousand eyes watches over the world. He hears all, sees
all, no one can deceive him. And so by a natural transition he is the God of truth and loyalty, he is
invoked in taking oaths, and guarantees all the contracts and punishes all who violate their bond and
plighted word. And if he is Light, thus he is also the Heat and Life - the Vaidic Kama, the Orphic Eros,
he fecundates all Nature. He gives abundance; he gives herds, he gives progeny and life. He pours forth
the waters, and causes the plants to grow; he bestows on his worshippers health of body, wealth and
well dowered off spring. In fact he is precisely what the worshippers of Osiris, and the followers of the
Trismegistic tradition, and other Macedonic cults, called Agathodaimon or the „Good Spirit‟, the
benefactor. As protector of warriors, he received for his companion, Verethraghna, or Victory; as the
defender of the truth, he was associated with the pious Sraoša, or Obedience to divine law; with Rašnu
- Justice, with Arštat - Rectitude. As the tutelar genius of prosperity, he is invoked with Aši-Vanuhi -
Riches, and with Parefidi - Abundance. And not only does he bestow material benefits, but he also
gives the good things of the soul - peace of heart, wisdom, and glory; he makes concord among the
brethren who worship him. As God of Light he is the relentless foe of the darkness and all its creatures
all suffering, sterility, vice, and impurity. The supremacy of Mitra is also shown by the enormous
number of names of kings, princes and nobles containing the name of the god, and this not only in later
days, but also in the earliest times.
Mithraism also included an overlooked astronomical component that goes well beyond astrology,
iconography or mythology. Majority of Mitra reliefs in stone or clay include the Zodiac as well. And it
was realized that many of the Mithraeums are oriented toward the rise of the three brightest stars of
constellations represented in the Mithraic bull-slaying (tauroctonos) reliefs: Aldebaran (i.e. Alpha
Taurii, the bull‟s eye of the Taurus constellation), Antares (Alpha Scorpii from the Scorpius
constellation), and Sirius (Alpha Canis Major). Every 19 years the mithraeum at Dura-Europos in Syria
is oriented to the midwinter Full Moon rise at the minor lunar standstill, just as a mitraeum on Hadrian‟s
Wall is oriented to the Full Moon rise marking the death of Deified Hadrian.
Mitraic tradition, in spite of its absorption and adoption of all these different and/or foreign elements,
clung tenaciously to its ancestral myths and rites and doctrines, as constituting the real esotericism of
its cult within them alone, it claimed, was to be discovered the secretum secretorum of its mysteries.
And unlike the other mystery religions of antiquity, that allowed participation to diverse persons
regardless of ethnicity, age, gender and social status, the Roman-adopted Misteries of Mitra wasn‟t a
universal religion. It was restricted only to the men, and wasn‟t practiced in open beautiful temples
made of marble, but in claustrophobic and rather tenebrous underground caves and tunnels. It wasn‟t
just a cult, it was occult.
So, why this excentric and occult congruity? Because the Roman Mysteries of Mitra selfish sectarian
and chauvinist aspects (already mentioned above) were determined by the exceptional popularity and
acceptance of this former Dionisiac/Phrygian cult among the Roman soldiers, which without exception
were all male. The Roman legionaries rapidly transformed Mysteries of Mitra into their preferred and
most intimate religious communion, a worship that made them feel accepted among each other, being
part of the “family of soldiers”. It was a “Mitraic fraternity” sealed by the secret Mitraic oaths and
initiation rites, that were used as means for reinforcement of their tight companion-bondages, a
relations of trust so much needed when confronting the enemy in battle. The solemn oaths given
between the restricted circles of closest soldier-companions within this Men‟s-club-like worship, added
the excitement of complicity, and made the cult of Mysteries of Mitra to became so popular among the
Roman legions, and consequently across the whole Roman empire. That‟s one of the reasons why the
Mitraeums weren‟t large splendid temples crowded with people, but rather narrow intimate shrines that
could‟ve contain just small groups of male worshipers, who practiced occult blood-spilling rituals.

The secrets of the Mitraic Cult have been most strictly guarded by all the followers, and not even a
single Christian church cleric or other wanderer has been able to discover their jealously guarded rites
and doctrines. This strong complicity among the male practicants of the Mitraic initiation rites
presumes rather intimate relations among the male Roman Mitra worshipers, and probable collective
homosexual or mail-couples intercourses. Although, as for the rest about anything else of Mithraism, it
is not explicitly confirmed by any reliable source. Nevertheless, in such a heavily conspirative-
symbolic cult as Mithraism, the phallus-like shaped Mithraeums pour a series of suspicious questions,
and in lack of other means for practicing closer male bonding, they appear to became some kind of first
primitive gay night-clubs…
On the other hand, it is not surprising that the religion of Mitra have found so great favor with the
soldiery - for the cult of victory was essentially a cult of warriors. Indeed, Mitra was a warrior and a
god of warriors, he was not only general of the celestial militia in the good fight, but also protector of
all brave deeds and chivalrous adventures. Nevertheless, the only Mitraic ritual, known as „Mitraic
Climax‟, comes to us from an important quotation from the “True Word” of the philosopher Celsus,
who composed his criticism of Christianity around AD 175:
“These things are symbolically set forth by the wisdom of the Persians and the initiation of
Mitra which is practiced among them. In the latter there is a certain symbolic representation -
the two circuits in the heaven, both the regular circuit and of that which is assigned to the
irregular spheres, and the passage of the soul through them. This symbolic representation is as
follows: ‘A ladder with seven gates, and at its top an eighth gate. The first of the gates is of
lead, the second of tin, the third of copper, the fourth of iron, the fifth of alloy, the sixth silver,
and the seventh of gold. The first they assign as Saturn’s, indicating by lead the slowness of the
star; the second as that of Venus, setting in correspondence with her the brightness and
softness of tin the third of Jupiter, for it has a copper basis and is hard; the fourth as
Mercury’s, for both Mercury and iron are patient of work of every kind—the one transacts all
business, the other is wrought with much labour; the fifth as that of Mars, for it is irregular
from its mixture and variegated ; the sixth as the Moon’s, the silver one; and the seventh as the
Sun’s, the golden - in imitation of their colors.”
This is the only description we have of the famous „Mitraic Climax‟ or „Ladder‟, and whatever may be
the correct key to the alchemical or astrological secrets involved in it, it may be of interest to remark
that this scheme was adopted as a means of theurgical yoga. Thus, unlike the other mystery religions
that knew only the initiated and the uninitiated, in its deep chauvinist-conspiracy the Roman Mithraic
cult has “evolved” further, and there was not just simply „an initiation‟ anymore, but whole seven of
them. The cult-relief from Konjic, that depicts only six persons, wearing animal masks of the grade
holders, instigated some scholarly controversies. Also one of Porphyry‟s texts gives some unusual
names for Mitraic initiates unattested elsewhere - it speaks about „Eagles‟ and „Hawks‟, but evidently
in connection with the highest Mitraic grade Pater. Nevertheless, all uncertainties were abolished by
the floor mosaic in the Mitraeum of Felicissimus in Ostia, representing a ladder-like up the central
aisle, each square depicting three symbols, two of the grade and one of the planet; inscriptions of the
acclamatory sentences discovered in the St. Prisca Mitraeum in Rome mentioning the names of all
grades, together with a planetary god under whose protection each grade belonged. Complicated ritual
of initiation of Roman Misteries of Mitra tented to held the adepts in heavily submissive position, as the
very first two stages suggest: “corax”, or „the battering ram‟, and „nymph‟ - a „beautiful maiden‟,
undoubtedly discover the hidden two different (sexual) positions of the newly initiated members, oral
and “doggy style” respectively.
Mysteries of Mithras had three distinctive symbolic constructs, Tauroctony is one, the other two are the
Mitraeum and the hierarchy of the seven grades. The all seven stages of initiation were as they follow:

1. Corax („crow‟ or „battering ram‟) - Symbols: Crow, beaker (the Caduceus, a symbol of
Mercury) “Nama (“praise to us”)33 to the Crows, under the protection of Mercury!” Mystai, i.e.
the newly initiated, received new garments and new tasks in god's service. Zodiacal symbol and
constellation of Gemini.

33
“Nama” - „to us‟ in plain Macedonian.
 Left: Caduceus, the symbol of initiated Corax

2. Nymphus (bridegroom) or Gryphus – Symbols: lamp; a diadem and a now unrecognizable

object are symbols of the goddess and planet Venus; “Nama to the Bridegrooms, under the
protection of Venus!” i.e. Urania, the heavenly female. Zodiacal symbol and constellation of
Taurus.

3. Miles (soldier) – Symbols: sling-bag, helmet, lance; “Nama to the Soldiers, under the
protection of Mars/Ares!” Zodiacal symbol and constellation of Scorpius.

4. Leones (lion) – Symbols: the fire-shovel (the rattle, sistrum and thunderbolt refer to Jupiter);
“Nama to the Lions, under the protection of Jupiter/Zevs!” Whoever possessed the fourth degree
of initiation was called a Lion. During his initiation he received Jupiter's weapon, the thunderbolt,
to be used in a kind of mystery drama to slay the Titans once again. Then the mystai were purified
by having their hands washed with honey34 before being awarded a lion's mask. The use of honey
in the Leontica rite is corroborated by the engraved figure of a lion with a bee in its mouth.
Zodiacal symbol and constellation of Sagitarius.

5. Perses (Persian „The keeper of the fruits‟) - Symbols: akimakes, a Persian hooked dagger; (the
crescent moon and stars refer to Luna/Artemis); “Nama to the Persians, under the protection of
the Moon!” Ritual of purifying the tongue with honey. Zodiacal symbol and constellation of
Cancer.

6. Iliodromus (sun-runner) - Symbols: torch, the rayed crown and whip (symbols of the sun);
“Nama to the Runners of the Sun, under the protection of the Sun!” The second highest grade that
a Mithras disciple could achieve was that of Heliodromus, the courier of the sun. The initiate thus
became like the sun god, who had revealed to Mithras the right point in time for sacrificing the
bull. Zodiacal symbol and constellation of Lion.
34
“The (Lion) initiates have used honey in many different symbolic ways owing to its being a
same deduced from many powers, ‘and especially’ because it has both a purifying and
preservative virtue, for by honey many things are preserved from decay, and with honey long
open wounds are purified. Moreover it is sweet to taste, and collected from ‘flowers’ by bees who
happen to be ox-born.” Porphyry (C. XV)
 7. Pater (father) - Symbols: Phrygian cap, libation bowl, the staff and sickle (last two symbols of
Saturn); “Nama to the Fathers, from East to West, under the protection of Saturn!” Zodiacal
symbol and constellation of Taurus.

Mitra, meanwhile, was also considered to be identical with Saturn (Olympian equivalent of Kronos).35
In the cult, the highest ranking member, the “Pater,” was thought of as his incarnations. These priests,
like Mitra himself, wore the same Phrygian cap, just like Saturn did. And strangely, but also Cybele‟s
priests wore them too. This hat was also known as a “liberty cap,” worn as heavy duty “Phrygian”
helmets by Macedonian soldiers, and later in Rome it was the symbol of free people or a slave that had
been freed. Accordingly, all slaves wore them during the Dionisiac festival of Saturnalia at the winter
solstice, because they were considered free during this time period. Indeed, all rules were considered
null during these days, giving way to the old cosmopolitan Macedonic traditions of orgies, drinking,
and mischief. This was done in honor of Dionis/Saturn and his Golden Age, when, it is said, nobody
had to work. It is the reason why we all take vacation around Christmas, and why Santa Claus wears
that funny red hat. It‟s also why we get wildly drunk on New Years Eve, just on the like the “Feast of
fools” celebrated in medieval Europe, when the social order would be upturned in honor of the “Lord of
Misrule.” It‟s why the Phrygian “liberty” cap became the symbol of the French Revolution, inspired by
Freemasons, who, like the adepts of Mitra, gave no regard to social status within the boundaries of their
lodges.
Now one may be wondering if there is any connection between the cults of Mitra and Cybele
(Kibela/Kubaba/Magna Mater), since they are both featured and both connected to the figure of
Baphomet. Despite many claims to the contrary by different scholars, there is undisputable link. Beside
the fact that the both were originally Hittite/Macedonic/Phrygian mystery cults that were imported to
Rome from the east, both featured bull sacrifices, and, the myths of both figures fit together in an
important way that has been largely ignored until now.

35
The youngest son of the mythical Uranus (Heaven), hence “Ur/Tur” (Lat. Taurus) -„the
heavenly bull‟, and Gaia (Earth), Kronos overthrew and castrated his father and then married
his sister Rhea.
A further step was taken by the emperor Claudius, when he also incorporated the Macedonic/Phrygian
worship of the sacred tree, and with it probably the orgiastic rites of Atis, the consort of Cybele, in the
established religion of Rome. Then her spring festival of the New Year was introduced according to
ancient Macedonian Calendar - on the 22-nd day of March a Pine-tree was cut in the woods and
brought into the sanctuary of Cybele, where it was treated as a great divinity. The Macedonian
Phrygians worshipped the Pine above other trees as clear symbol of Dionis. The cones of the stone-pine
contain edible nut-like seeds, which have been used as food since antiquity, and are still eaten, for
example, by the poorer classes in Rome. Moreover, a wine was brewed from these seeds, and this may
partly account for the orgiastic nature of the rites of Cybele, which the ancients clearly linked to those
of Dionis. Pinecones were also regarded as symbols of fertility.

On the second day of the festival, on 23 of March, was the main ceremony; and the 24th March was
known as the “Day of Blood”, when in Dionisiac frenzy the Archpriest drew blood from his arms and
presented it as an offering. Stirred by the wild barbaric music of rumbling drums, clashing cymbals,
droning horns and flutes, the rest of the clergy whirled about in the dance with waggling heads and
streaming hair, until, hypnotized of excitement and insensible to pain, they cut their bodies with knives
or other sharp objects in order to spill their own blood on the altar and the sacred Pine-tree. At Rome,
and probably elsewhere, the celebration took the form of a carnival. The new birth and the remission of
sins by the shedding of bulls blood appear to have been carried out at the sanctuary of the
Macedonic/Phrygian goddess on the Vatican Hill, at or near the spot where the great basilica of St.
Peter's now stands.
Above: Taurobolium, ritual bathing with the sacred blood of the bull, in order to consecrate the
fertility

To summarize as briefly as possible, Mitra was said to be born from a rock, which he ripped his way
out of with a knife, just like Saturn or Kronos ripped his way out of the connected bodies of his mother
and father. And just like Chronos, Mitra then became the new god of whatever was outside.
 Left: Mitra born from the rock

Mitra reportedly hated women, which is why his cult only admitted men. When he wanted to have a
son of his own, in accordance to his conspirative promiscuity he is said to have masturbated and spilled
his seed on a rock, from which sprang the god Orphos. This is the cosmic egg. This is how he created a
universe for himself to rule over.

Right: the Orphic Egg from which the Universe was born

Cybele, on the other hand, was said to actually be a rock herself, from which her son, who was later
castrated, parthenogenically sprang. She was the next stage of the primordial Great Mother goddess of
the Earth in its primitive state, of caverns, worshipped on the sources and mountain tops. She was
known as Empresses Kibela, founder of the City of „Pillar‟ - Stobi,36 in Upper Macedonia. Volkert
Haas described this „mountain mother‟: “The belief of the great mountain queen was known in the Near
East, as well in the whole Mediterranean and in areas of Eurasia. The mistress of the mountain is just a
form of the Mother Goddess, who is manifesting herself in the throne realm of a mountain. The location
of the mountain top as a throne for the goddess is of a latter development.37 First the mountain, the
throne and the goddess were united in one. From the sky the Stormgod connect himself with the earth
mother at the mountain. The mountain itself or the goddess sitting on the mountain forms the earth
mother, who is receiving the rain god.”
However, a further story tells that she was originally a hermaphrodite god on Mt. Olymp in Asia Minor.
The other gods were afraid of her freakishness, it was said, so they had her castrated and then threw her
out, down to earth. Now just as Mitra hated women and natural procreation, Cybele had a similar
attitude. Moreover the ancients used to call the priestesses of Mother Earth - Bees, in that they were
initiates of the Terrene Goddess, and the Maid (Koré) herself Bee-like. They also called the Moon -
Bee, as lady of regeneration, and especially because with the Magianism and Mitraism the Moon in
exaltation is the Bull, and Bees are Ox-born, that is, souls coming into birth are Ox-born, and the God
who steals the Bull (Mitra) occultly signifies regeneration.
Prudentius, a Roman Christian poet, writing in the 4th century, said: “Both sexes are displeasing to
Cybele’s holiness, so he keeps a middle gender between the two.” Notice he referred to Cybele as „he.‟
We are dealing with the personalities of a hermaphrodite that has been separated, and from which our
universe was made.

36
Stob, stolb, stub – „pillar, column‟ in plain Macedonian.
37
as later Macedonic-Phrygian Kibela/Cybele/Kubaba in Asia Minor, and medieval Kupalo in
central and eastern Europe.
 Mitraic ritual of initiation

Mitraic ritual record has miraculously appeared from the chaos of the great Paris Magic Papyrus 574
(Supplement Macedonic de la Bibliotheque Nationale), the date of which is fixed with every
probability as the earliest years of the 4th century AD. The original text of the ritual has, however, been
plainly worked over by a Macedonian school of Ptolemaic Egypt magicians, who inserted most of the
now unintelligible words and names (ashma ovomata, nomina varvara, nomina arcana), and vowel-
combinations and permutations (voces mysticæ), of their theurgic language, which were known in old
world as "words of power." The subject is naturally one of the most obscure that is known to
scholarship, and so far no one has found any real key of it. The Mitra‟s heavenly “light” was in fact the
light of the Word, but men could not comprehend, is rekindled in he who experiences his first spiritual
birth. That, however, there was once a science of this "nature language," or "tongue of the gods," which
subsequently passed into the superstition of a purely mechanical tradition, is highly probable; and one
mean towards a recovery of the understanding of its nature is a study of the still living tradition of
mantra-vidya, or the science of mantra, or mystic utterances and invocations, in India of to-day. The
other is the recent decoding of the Old Macedonic script from the middle text on the Rosetta Stone on
behalf of two Macedonian scholars, Tom Boševski and Aristotel Tentov.38 But that‟s another theme…
The discovered papyrus which contained the Mitraic ritual was first practiced in Egypt around AD 100-
150, and was used in the Misteries until AD 200. Here‟s a translation of the ritual:

I. [THE FATHER'S PRAYER.]

O Providence, O Fortune, bestow on me Thy Grace - imparting these the Mysteries a
Father only may hand on, and that, too, to a Son alone - his Immortality - [a Son] initiate,
worthy of this our Craft, with which Sun Mitra, the Great God, commanded me to be
endowed by His Archangel; so that I, Eagle [as I am, by mine own self] alone, may soar
to Heaven, and contemplate all things.

II. THE INVOCATORY UTTERANCE (Logos).

1. O Primal Origin of my origination; Thou Primal Substance of my substance; First
Breath of breath, the breath that is in me; First Fire, God-given for the Blending of the
blendings in me, [First Fire] of fire in me; First Water of [my] water. thewater in me;
Primal Earth-essence of the earthy essence in me; Thou Perfect Body of me - N. N. son
of N. N., son of N.N. (fem.) - fashioned by Honored Arm and Incorruptible Right Hand,
in World that's lightless, yet radiant with Light, [in World] that's soulless, yet filled full of
Soul!
2. If, verity, it may seem good to you, translate me, now held by my lower nature, unto the
Generation that is free from Death; in order that, beyond the insistent Need that presses
on me, I may have Vision of the Deathless Source, by virtue of the Deathless Spirit, by
virtue of the Deathless Water, by virtue of the [Deathless] Solid, and [by virtue of] the
[Deathless] Air; in order that 1 may become re-born in Mind; in order that 1 may
become initiate, and that the Holy Breath may breathe in me; in order that 1 may admire
the Holy Fire; that 1 may see the Deep of the [New] Dawn, the Water that doth cause [the
Soul] to thrill; and that the, Life-bestowing Æther which surrounds [all things] may give
me, Hearing.
3. For 1 am to behold to-day with Deathless Eyes - I, mortal, born of mortal womb, but
38
http://rosetta-stone.feit.ukim.edu.mk
[now] made better by the Might of Mighty Power, yea, by the Incorruptible Right Hand -
[I am to see to-day] by virtue of the Deathless Spirit the Deathless Æon, the master of the
Deadens of Fire - I with pure purities [now] Purified, the human soul-power of me
subsisting for a little while in purity; which [power] I shall again receive transmitted unto
me beyond the insistent Bitterness that presses on me, Necessity whose debts can never
go unpaid - I, N. N., son of N. N. (fem.) - according to the Ordinance of God that naught
can ever change.
4. For that it is beyond my reach that, born beneath the sway of Death, I should
[unaided] soar into the Height, together with the golden sparklings of the Brilliancy that
knows no Death.
5. Stay still, O nature doomed to Perish, [nature] of men subject to Death! And
straightway let me pass beyond the Need implacable that presses on me; for that I am His
Son; I breathe; I am!

III. [THE FIRST INSTRUCTION.]

1. Take from the [Sun-]rays breath, inhaling thrice [as deeply] as thou canst; and thou
shalt see thyself being raised aloft, and soaring towards the Height, so that thou seem'st to
be in midst of Air.
2. Thou shalt hear naught, nor man nor beast; nor shalt thou see aught of the sights upon
the earth, in that same hour; but all things thou shalt see will be immortal.
3. For thou shalt see, in that same day and hour, the Disposition of the Gods - the Ruling
Gods ascending heavenwards, the other ones descending. And through his Disk - the
God's, my Father's - there shall be seen the Way-of-going of the Gods accessible to sight.
4. And in like fashion also [shall be seen] the Pipe, as it is called, whence comes the
Wind in service [for the day]. For thou shalt see as though it were a Pipe depending from
His Disk; and toward the regions Westward, as though it were an infinite East Wind. But
if the other Wind, toward the regions of the East' should be in service, in the like fashion
shalt thou see, toward the regions of that [side,] the converse of the sight.
5. And thou shalt see the Gods gazing intently on thee and bearing down upon thee. Then
straightway lay thy dexter finger on thy lips and say:

IV. [THE FIRST UTTERANCE.]

Silence! Silence! Silence! The Symbol of the Living God beyond Decay. Protect me,
Silence! †! Next "hiss" forth long: Sss! Sss! Then "puff" saying: †! And thereon shalt thou
see the Gods gazing benignly on thee, and no longer bearing down upon thee, but
proceeding on the proper order of their doings.

V. [THE SECOND INSTRUCTION.]

When, then, thou see'st the Upper Cosmos clean and clear, with no one of the Gods (or
Angels) bearing down on thee, expect to hear a mighty thunder-clap so as to startle thee.
Then say again:

THE [SECOND] UTTERANCE (LOGOS).

1. O Silence! Silence! I am a Star, whose Course is as your Course, shining anew from
out the depth †. Upon thy saying this, straightway His disk will start expanding.
2. And after thou hast said the second utterance - to wit, twice Silence and the rest - "hiss"
twice, and "puff" twice; and straightway shalt thou see a mighty host of stars, five-
pointed, emerging from His Disk, and filling all the Air.
3. Then say again: O Silence! Silence! And when His Disk is opened [fully] out, thou
shalt behold an infinite Encircling and Doors of Fire fast closed. Straightway set going
then the utterance that follows, closing thy eyes:

THE THIRD UTTERANCE (LOGOS).

1. Hear me, give ear to me - N. N., son of N. N. (fem.) - O Lord, who with Thy Breath
hast closed the Fiery Bars of Heaven; Twin-bodied; Ruler of the Fire; Creator of the
Light; O Holder of the Keys; Inbreather of the Fire; Fire-hearted One, whose Breath
gives Light; Thou who dost joy in Fire; Beauteous of Light; O Lord of Light, whose Body
is of Fire; Light-giver [and] Fire-sower; Fire-loosener, whose Life is in the Light; Fire-
whirler, who sett'st the Light in motion; Thou Thunder-rouser; O Thou Light-glory,
Light-increaser; Controller of the Light Empyrean; O Thou Star-tamer!
2. Oh! Open unto me! For on account of this, the bitter and implacable Necessity that
presses on me, I do invoke Thy Deathless Names, innate with Life, most worshipful, that
have not yet descended unto mortal nature, nor have been made articulate by human
tongue, or cry or tone of man: ëeö · oëeö · iöö · oë · ëeö · ëeö · oëeö · iöö · oëëe · öëe · öoë
· ië · ëö · oö · oë · ieö ·oë · öoë · ieöoë · ieeö · eë · iö · oë · ioë · öëö · eoë · oeö · öië · öiëeö
· oi · iii · ëoë · öuë · ëö · oëe · eöëia · aëaeëa · ëeeë · eeë · eeë · ieö · ëeö · oëeeoë · ëeö ·
euö · oë ·eiö · ëö · öë · öë · öë · ee · ooouiöë!
3. Utter all these with Fire and Spirit once unto the end; and then begin again a second
time, until thou hast completed [all] the Seven Immortal Gods of Cosmos. When thou
hast uttered them, thunders and crashings shalt thou hear in the Surround, and feel thyself
a-shake with every crash. Then once more utter Silence! [and] the utterance [following
it].
4. Thereon open thy eyes; and thou shalt see the Doors thrown open, and the Cosmos of
the Gods that is within the Doors; so that for joy and rapture of the sight thy Spirit runs to
meet it, and soars up. Therefore, hold thyself steady, and, gazing steadily into thyself,
draw breath from the Divine. When, then, thy Soul shall be restored, say:

VIII. [THE FOURTH UTTERANCE.]

1. Draw nigh, O Lord! Upon this utterance His Rays shall be turned on thee, and thou
shalt be in midst of them.
2. When, then, thou hast done this, thou shalt behold a God, in flower of age, of fairest
beauty, [and] with Locks of Flame, in a white Tunic and a scarlet Mantle, wearing a
Crown of Fire. Straightway salute Him with the Salutation of the Fire:

IX. [THE FIFTH UTTERANCE.]

1. Hail Lord! O Thou of mighty Power; O King of mighty Sway; Greatest of Gods; O
Sun; Thou Lord of Heaven and Earth; O God of Gods! Strong is Thy Breath; strong is
Thy Might! O Lord, if it seem good to Thee, make Thou announcement of me unto God
Mosthigh, who hath begotten and created Thee!
2. For that a man - N.N., son of N.N. (fem.), born of the mortal womb of N.N. (fem.),
and of spermatic ichor, yea, of this [ichor], which at Thy Hands to-day hath undergone
the transmutation of re-birth -, one, from so many tens of thousands, transformed to
immortality in this same hour, by God's good-pleasure, of God transcendent Good-, [a
man, I say,] presumes to worship Thee, and supplicates with whatsoever power a mortal
hath.
3. Upon this utterance He shall come to the Pole, and thou shalt see Him moving round as
on a path. Then gaze intently, and send forth a prolonged "bellowing," like to a horn-
note, expelling the whole breath, with pressure on the ribs, and kiss the amulets, and say
first to that upon the right:
X. [THE SIXTH UTTERANCE.]
Protect me! †! When thou hast uttered this. thou shalt behold the Doors thrown open,
and, issuing from the Depth, Seven Virgins, in byssus-robes, with serpent-faces. and
golden sceptres in their hands. These are they who are the so-called Heaven's Fortunes
(Tychai). When thou dost see these things, make salutation thus:

XI. [THE SEVENTH UTTERANCE.]

1. Hail Heaven's Seven Fortunes, Virgins august and good, ye sacred ones who live and
eat with †! Ye holiest Protectors of the Four Supports!
Hail thou, the First, †!
Hail thou, the Second, †!
Hail thou, the Third, †!
Hail thou, the Fourth, †!
Hail thou, the Fifth, †!
Hail thou, the Sixth, †!
Hail thou, the Seventh, †!
2. There come forth others, too - Seven Gods, with faces of black bulls, in linen
loincloths, with seven golden fillets on their heads. These are the so-called Heaven's
Pole-lords. And in like fashion unto each of them thou must make salutation with his
special name.

XII.
[THE EIGHTH UTTERANCE.]
1. Hail Guardians of the Pivot, ye, sacred sturdy Youths, who all, at once, revolve the
spinning Axis of Heaven's Circle, ye who let loose the thunder and the lightning, and
earthquake-shocks and thunder-bolts upon the hosts of impious folk, but [who bestow] on
me, who pious am and worshipper of God, good-health, and soundness of my frame in
every Part, and Proper stretch of hearing and of sight, and calm, in the now Present
good-hours of this day, O mighty Ruling Lords and Gods of me!
Hail thou, the First, †!
Hail thou, the Second, †!
Hail thou, the Third, †!
Hail thou, the Fourth, †!
Hail thou, the Fifth, †!
Hail thou, the Sixth, †!
Hail thou, the Seventh, †!
2. Now when they [all] are present in their order, here and there, gaze in the Air intently,
and thou shalt see lightnings down-flashing, and lights a-quiver, and the earth a-shake;
and [then] a God descending, [a God] transcending vast, of radiant Presence, with golden
Locks, in flower of age, [clad] in a Robe of brightness, with Crown of gold [upon His
Head], and Garments [on His Legs], holding in His Right Hand the golden Shoulder of
the Calf. This latter is the Bear that moves the Heaven[-dome], and changes its direction,
now up now down, according to the hour. Then shalt thou see lightnings leap from His
Eyes and from His Body stars.
3. Straightway send forth a "bellowing" prolonged, with belly-pressure, to start thy senses
going all together-prolonged unto the very end, kissing again the amulets and saying:

XIII. [THE NINTH UTTERANCE.]

†, [O Lord] of me - N. N. - abide, with Me, within my Soul! Oh! leave me not! For † bids
thee [remain]. And gaze intently on the God, with "bellowing" prolonged, and thus salute
Him:

[THE TENTH UTTERANCE.]

Hail Lord, Thou Master of the Water! Hail, Founder of the Earth! Hail, Prince of Breath!
O Lord, being born again, I Pass away in being made Great, and, having been made
Great, I die. Being born from out the state of birth-and-death that giveth birth to [mortal]
lives, 1 now, set free, Pass to the state transcending birth, as Thou hast established it,
according as Thou hast ordained and made, the Mystery.
 The fading of Mitra’s cult and its legacy

The Misteries of Mitra most important aspect and legacy is its rejection of the theism and the doctrine
polemics (alike in the Christianity) in the name of higher principles, but, not by an a priori animosity
toward religion and to the concepts of supernatural authority and revelation. To the faith Mitra opposes
experience; to devotion, heroic and ascetical action; to the God of theism - the ideal of liberation and
enlightenment. The very same concepts and ideals are to be found in the Macedonic Bogomilism
movement, born in medieval Macedonia of the 10th century. With only difference that the Mitra‟s
heavenly Bull, as the symbol of the sky and life energy, as well as the animistic menagerie that
surrounded him weren‟t present anymore, as the wild animals were already decimated if not extinct in
the nature, and domestic bovines was now a simple property and not a symbol of higher spiritual values.
Mitraic mysteries spawned from the very heart of the ancient Macedonic civilization and cultural
traditions - a cosmopolitan world characterized by self-affirmation, light, greatness, regal spirituality and
spiritual regality. A values that were only once fully achieved, by that world most famous Macedonian,
Alexander III the Great. Deeds that were tried and retried to be emulated so desperately by the later
rulers, like the Roman emperors or western medieval kings and monarchs like Napoleon. In his path
there was no room for escapism or asceticism, or renunciation and contemplative abstraction.
Alexander‟s and Mitra‟s path is one of action, of celestial light and solar power, a fervent spirituality
which is opposed to both dull and dreamy Oriental Universalism, and Christian sentimentalism and
moralism. Thus, it is not by pure case that the physiognomy of (Roman) Mitra was equaled to that of
Alexander - he was the “Sun King”, „Sol Invictus‟ of his time. This is why he became so much
venerated, glorified, and envied in the same time, and blasphemously transformed into worship that
contained all the human virtues.
Although it resisted in its original form much longer in the regions of Pontus and Commagene,
following the centuries of incessant and merciless Christian persecution toward all the pagan religions
and mystery cults, Mitra worship gradually regressed and disappeared. In Christian kingdom there was
no place for other gods or goddesses, and Gnostic teachings and beliefs from the antiquity were
ruthlessly extirpated.
Mithraism managed to retain its norms and to survive throughout millenniums without recourse to
expensive and contentious institutions. Although, under the systematic pressure of monotheistic
religions it slowly recessed, and the last Mitraic communities probably disappeared in the first half of
the 5th century AD, and in most regions probably much sooner. Nevertheless, the Mysteries of Mitra
concealed itself in cognate Manichaeism, which long survived as a harbor of refuge for the shipwrecked
gnostics and mystics of the ancient world and early Middle Age. In particular the Syro-Macedonians
were distinguished in all epochs by their ardent zeal. No people, not even the Egyptians, defended their
ancient idols with such great pertinacity against the Christians. But, at the end even they were forced to
abandon their old traditions, and to bow in front of the persistent Christian persecutions…
Six centuries later, again in Macedonia, a medieval version of the Mitraic worship reappeared, somehow
modified, in the form of Bogomilism (“Bogomil” - „God-beloved‟ in plain Macedonian). This 10th
century Macedonic religious movement, as defined in the dictionary, was “a modified form of
Manichaeism”, thus consequently a modified medieval form of Magianism and Mysteries of Mitra,
Dionis, or Nike. It was once again a pure innocent credo, without expensive and contentious institutions,
from the people to the people. And the 10th century Bogomilism movement descended further in the
west under the name of Catharism, which turned out to be the 11th-13th centuries predecessor of the
later Protestantism. Its predecessors, all these previous primordial traditions that were once simply
popular beliefs and rites, spawned from the people themselves, were to be reborn again and again among
the last of the pagan rites resurrected from the same simple people, as the spiritual refuge and obstinate
adversaries to the church institution, ruling classes and monarchies, even in a much later times. The
most old traditions repeatedly were transmitted and repeated, from generation to generation, reborn from
their ashes, like that unique mythical bird Fenix. The Mysteries of Mitra thus played one of the most
significant parts in the consolidation and stubborn continuity of these ancient beliefs, and their
transformation throughout millennia, as these traditions never really died out. Alike the previously
mentioned Macedonian „carol‟ song Kolede.
References:

1. “Textes et Monuments figurés relatifs aux Mysteres de Mithra” by Franz Valery

Cumont, 2 vols. Bruxelles, 1896-1899.
2. “Mysteries of Mitra” by Franz Valery Marie Cumont, 1903.
3. “History of Ancient Civilization” by Charles Seignobos, 1912.
4. “The basilica of St. Clemente in Rome” by Loucis Nolan O.P., 1914.
5. “The path of enlightenment according to the mitraic misteries” by Julius Evola,
1928-1972.
6. “Hellenistic Kings, War, and the Economy” by M. M. Austin, 1986.
7. “Short guide through St. Clemente basilica” by Leonard Boyle O.P. 1989.
8. “A Study of Combined Arms Warfare by Alexander the Great” by Robert B. Pederson,
1998.
9. “Mithraism” by Alison Griffith.
10. Lezioni di Arte Vol.1, 'Dall'arte arcaica al gotico' Electa/Bruno Mondadori,
Edition 2002.
11. “The Ostia Mithraea: An Introduction to the Cult of Mithras and Tour of the
Ostian Shrines” by Jan Theo Baker, 2003.
12. “The Birth of Classical Europe: A History from Ilion to Augustine” by Simon
Price, Peter Thonemann.
13. “The Religion of the Mitras Cult in the Roman Empire. Mysteries of the
Unconquered Sun” by Roger Beck, 2006.
14. “Seven Mitraic grades: an initiatory or priestly hierarchy?” by Aleš Čalupa,
2008.
15. “Initiation into the Mysteries of the Ancient World” by Jan N. Bremmer, 2014.
16. “The Mysteries Of Mitra” by Petar Georgiev, 2014.
17. “Mitra” by James R. Russel, 2015.
18. “The sacrifices of Mitra” by Britt-Marie Näsström.
19. “Macedonian bronzes and the religion and mythology of Iron Age communities in the
Central Balkans (Macedonia)” by Nikos Chaušidis, 2017.